Early voting in House District 127 runoff begins Monday

Eight days of early voting in the Dec. 3 Georgia House District 127 special election runoff between Brian Prince and Diane Evans are set to start Monday in the board of elections offices in Richmond and Jefferson counties.

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Registered voters from the 13 voting precincts in House District 127 may cast runoff ballots early for any reason Monday through Friday, Nov. 22 and Nov. 25 through Nov. 27, in their county’s elections office.

“If everything falls into line as it should, we’ll be up and running Monday,” said Lynn Bailey, executive director for Augusta-Richmond County Board of Elections.

Bailey said the office will test equipment and receive state materials for the runoff late this week in preparation for the early voting period.

Voting by mail also is set to begin Monday, Bailey and Jefferson County Elections Superintendent Susan Gray said.

The House District 127 runoff is the only election on the ballot. There will be no Saturday early voting and all voters are required to show one of six acceptable forms of identification.

Early voting hours in Richmond will be 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. each weekday at the Board of Elections main office, 530 Greene St. in Augusta. Early voting hours in Jefferson will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the elections office, 415 Green St. in Louisville.

Prince, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, and Evans, a pastor and Democratic party activist, were the two top finishers in the Nov. 5 special election to fill the unexpired term of Rep. Quincy Murphy, D-Augusta, who died in August.

Prince garnered 44.6 percent of votes, Evans had 29.6 percent and Murphy’s widow Dianne Murphy placed a close third with 25.8 percent, but none won the 50 percent needed to win outright.

Evans performed well in her home county of Jefferson, where about 40 percent of the house district’s 26,871 registered voters live. She got 827 votes to Prince’s 242 votes. Prince, who lives in Augusta, received 1,226 votes in Richmond to Evans’ 146.

All election day polling places within House District 127 – including locations in west Augusta, Hephzibah, Blythe, Stapleton, Louisville, Matthews and Wrens – will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Dec. 3.